Oliver Letwin: a profile of the Minister of State for Policy

In a varied career, Oliver Letwin has been a philosophy don at Cambridge, a
civil servant and a bank director.

Cabinet Office Minister Oliver LetwinPhoto: PAUL GROVER

By Daily Telegraph Reporter

9:55AM BST 14 Oct 2011

Oliver Letwin has written many books, pamphlets and articles, including Ethics, Emotion and the Unity of the Self, Privatising the World and The Purpose of Politics.

He has been involved in policy formation and policy thinking for the last 25 years, since he worked for former Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, in Downing Street in the 1980s.

He is a passionate champion of progressive social reform, and has been involved with Iain Duncan Smith’s Centre for Social Justice since it was first founded. He is also committed to environmental causes, and to localism.

Since May 2010, Mr Letwin has been Minister for Government Policy, based at the Cabinet Office with responsibility for providing policy advice to the Prime Minister.

Most recently he has faced questions over his judgement following reports that he discarded dozens of official documents in public bins in St James's Park, London.

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Outside of politics, Mr Letwin enjoys mountain-walking, swimming and tennis, travel, philosophy and cooking. He has been involved with numerous charities, including the Social Mobility Foundation, of which he is a former Trustee and Chairman. Oliver is married to Isabel and has two children, Jeremy and Laura.